As I start this thread, I kind of wonder if it deserves its own thread. But here it is.

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Perhaps a better way of framing this thread for debate should of been: Should Bird and Walsh have been fired instead? They're more responsible for this failed Pacer season than Carlisle, who was given an utterly unwinnable roster the last half of the season.

The Sonics should jump at the chance to hire Carlisle and will certainly give him a long look. Sonics President Wally Walker and Carlisle have a connection in that both attended Virginia, about a decade apart. Carlisle's a helluva offensive coach, and a healthy Sonics lineup could be formidable.

The Indianapolis Star ran an unintentionally hilarious for-and-against point on Carlisle when it said in the for category was Carlisle's extraordinarily complicated offense, which others found difficult to prepare for, and in the against category was Carlisle's extraordinarily complicated offense, which his own players couldn't figure out. The chart quote NBA security personnel saying Carlisle ran the longest shootarounds in the league -- 75 minutes, rather than the usual 45, because he was so busy putting new wrinkles into his offense.

Carlisle was just fired as coach -- he can keep his front-office job if he wishes.

The Sonics should jump at the chance to hire Carlisle and will certainly give him a long look. Sonics President Wally Walker and Carlisle have a connection in that both attended Virginia, about a decade apart. Carlisle's a helluva offensive coach, and a healthy Sonics lineup could be formidable.

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Carlisle is a good defensive coach. On offense, he is the ultimate extension of the clipboard-waving milk-the-clock control freak.

The dissolution of the Pacers franchise is the end result of a chain reaction sparked off by building their roster around a psycho head case, Ron Artest, four or five years ago. The decision to do that led to more bad decisions which led to more bad decisions, as they (in effect) threw good money after bad trying to save the original decision. Finally they had enough and shipped Artest out of town, but the damage was done and the roster still had terminal internal weaknesses which have still not been solved.

The same thing has happened and will continue to happen with the Kings. When you select a maladjusted psycho head case as the guy you want to build your franchise around, you are signing up for a case of cancer which will eat your franchise from the inside out for the next decade. Even after the psycho head case is gone, it takes several more seasons for the bad personnel moves you made to accommodate him to work its way through your franchise's system -- like a combined case of excruciating constipation and explosive projectile diarrhea.